Countryside Management Service

We have a number of leafleted walks that are aimed at beginners or those walking specifically to improve their health. Find one in your area and give it a go.

The Countryside Management Service (CMS) has been working with communities in Hertfordshire for 30 years, helping them to care for and enjoy the environment.

Duke visits Broxbourne wood

CMS Project Officer, Heidi Hutton and representatives of the Woodwardens were among a select group invited to meet the His Royal Highness, the Duke of Gloucester at Broxbourne Wood during his visit to Hertfordshire in March.

With baby Dexter in tow, Heidi interrupted her maternity leave to attend as she had been closely involved with many of the award-winning improvements in the area.

Earlier, the Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire, Sir Simon Bowes-Lyon, who is a keen supporter of environmental causes, received His Royal Highness together with the Chairman of Hertfordshire County Council, Bryan Hammond, and Graham Phillips who manages many HCC owned sites.

The group escorted His Royal Highness around the easy-access trail constructed in 2005. This had formed part of a £100,000 project devised by the CMS with several partners, which included improvements to many footpaths and bridleways linking to nearby woodlands. The Woodwardens and other volunteers carried out much of the work with support from Heidi and other CMS staff. The Duke of Gloucester also met Dan Cordell, the sculptor who used a chainsaw to create five oak statues placed around the trail, and staff and students from Hertford Regional College who help there regularly.

Broxbourne Wood is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the County's only National Nature Reserve. With other woodlands on a band of clay soils to the south of Hertford, it forms an extensive and unique area from which Hornbeam was coppiced and taken to London for firewood before other fuels became available.

• Broxbourne Wood is accessible from Pembridge Lane between Brickendon and Hoddesdon. You can obtain a pack of leaflets about the area from the CMS Northeastern Area on 01462 459395.